THE EYES HAVE IT
12-12-07
By corky carroll
When I was thirteen years old I had the nightmareish surgerys you could ever imagine to remove some things called pterygiums from my eyes. The grew back and I would up having radiation treatments to kill them. My eyes have been screwed up ever since and today am still feeling the effects. There is a new treatment now being offered and my pal and surfing legend Mickey “the Mongoose” Munoz, all of 70 years really young, just had it done.
The Mongoose waited over 30 years to fix a condition in his eyes that was the result of too many days in the surf and sun. He had known for a long time that he had pterygiums (pronounced “tur-ridge-iums”) but wanted to research the condition and the best possible treatment options before moving forward.
Basically, a pterygium is a thickening of the outer coating of the eye that grows onto the cornea. As it grows, it can become red and irritated and can eventually disrupt normal vision or block vision altogether if not treated.
After a referral by surfer/friend/optometrist Dr .Bill Peterson, Munoz selected Dr. Edward Kim of Harvard Eye Associates to perform the surgery. They had done more surgeries than any other facility in the area and they have an office in San Clemente which was close to home for Munoz.
"Everyone is aware of the need for sunscreen on their skin, but more and more research has shown the cumulative damaging effects of sunlight on the eyes," says Dr. John Hovanesian, an eye surgeon with Harvard Eye Associates and renowned researcher and speaker on pterygiums and other eye diseases. "This UV exposure is especially damaging during water sports with the double assault of the sun coming from above and the reflection coming from below."
Munoz was well aware of the advancements in pterygium surgeries over the years resulting in shorter recovery times for patients. Harvard Eye Associates performs dozens of no-stitch surgeries each week which allow most patients to return to work within one or two days of surgery. The older surgical techniques used tiny stitches. These stitches eventually dissolved, but caused quite a bit of discomfort in the meantime. The most recent technique utilizes a special “glue” so no stitches are used.
Dr. Kim explains that the patient is slightly sedated during the pterygium surgery and the eye is completely numbed during the procedure so there is no discomfort. The pterygium is then removed and replaced with a thin graft (autograft) of normal tissue which is glued into place. This breakthrough in pterygium surgeries allows for the autograft to secure in seconds and the adhesive dissolves in about one week with no residue or discomfort. ”In addition to being more comfortable after surgery, the most compelling reason for this technique is that it GREATLY REDUCES the chance for recurrence compared to older techniques,” states Dr. Kim. .
The final challenge for Munoz after his surgery a few months ago was to stay out of the water for five weeks during the recovery time (which he didn’t quite make). He actually made custom goggles to protect his eyes from the water and resorted to a stand-up surf method so his eyes wouldn’t get wet. While Dr. Kim doesn’t advise his patients to push the recovery time, he couldn’t help but be impressed with Munoz’ creativity and determination to get back into the water. “Prevention of pterygiums can be helped by using UV filter sunglasses that fit closely, a good hat and avoiding dust, wind and irritants, not so easy sometimes in sunny California!,” says Dr. Kim.
All and all, Munoz was pleased with the results of his surgery and felt right at home at Harvard Eye Associates. He connected immediately with Dr. Kim who has treated hundreds of patients and plenty of well-known surfers for this condition. From the laid back style of the anesthesiologist and technicians to the cool music playing in the background, Munoz felt like he was in the right place for his long-awaited treatment. In fact, the entire surgery time from start to finish was about 45 minutes with the surgery lasting only about 10 minutes.
It took about two to three weeks for the eye’s appearance to return to normal and now just a few months later, his vision has improved dramatically and he’s back in the waves.
For more information about the treatments for pterygiums, contact Harvard Eye Associates at 949.742.3937 or visit www.harvardeye.com.
The Wave 12-12-07
By Corky Carroll
One of the biggest days ever surfed before tow in surfing came along was in early December 1969 at Makaha Beach, on the west shore of the island of Oahu. There is argument on what the exact date was and honestly I can’t remember what it was. And it really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things anyway, so let’s just say it was early December. Just like now. This is the day that Greg Noll was supposed to have ridden or at least attempted to ride the biggest wave ever ridden to that date.
I didn’t see it. But I was there that day along with Rolf Aurness. I rode one wave, by far the biggest of my life. I am still scared from that one.
The day before that I was still in Southern California. I woke up in the middle of the night and jumped in the car with Mickey Munoz to go surf up near Rincon and visit with our pal from Australia, Bob McTavish. Bob was renting a house on the beach at a place called Shalimar. Mickey and I left my house in Capistrano Beach at about 5 A.M. The plan was to surf all day and then Mickey was going to drop me off at the airport in Los Angeles that evening. I had a ticket for the 9 P.M. flight to Honolulu.
There had been a building swell and we were thinking that we were going to score Rincon or one of the point breaks in that area. We reached the coast at Ventura at sunrise and saw big lines coming around the point at California Street. We knew that we had made the right decision.
A little while later we pulled up to Bob McTavish’s house at Shalimar. Naturally we had to wake the dude up. The point out in front of his house was not working all that good as the swell was not the right angle for it and due to the size there was way too much current. So we had some breakfast and decided to check out a spot called the Ventura Overhead. It is called that because it breaks on a reef way far out and is right in front of a huge overpass on the freeway. And on this day it was breaking. The three of us paddled out by ourselves and caught a great session. It was probably about eight feet and amazing fun. A couple other guys came out and that was the entire crowd for the day.
At Rincon that day it was huge but was packed. Again we made the right call. We surfed for hours and then had a late lunch before Mickey drove me back to the airport. It was one of those totally fun days that stick out in my memory from that time.
Rolf picked me up at the airport in Honolulu that night and told me that the surf was huge. In the morning I found out just how huge. It was eye popping big.
What sort of reminded me of this was that the reports said the surf was going to be the biggest in 30 years today. I am writing this on Weds, Dec. 5th. So I was up early and all frisky and ready for some real heavies. But, I should know better. Most of the time the predictions are overblown and this time was no different. Yeah, the surf was up and I did wind up getting some good waves. But it was not the biggest in 30 years by far or even out of the ordinary big. Just a solid winter swell and a little messy at that. There was one about ten years ago during the end of January that sticks out as really massive. And the big Christmas swell two years ago. That was far, far bigger than this and way cleaner. But this did get me out of bed today before the sun came up and did cause me to ponder the validity of surf forecasts and also lit up my two remaining brain cells that occasional flicker to think back on monstrous surf days in the great golden past. The memory of that day surfing Ventura Overhead with Munoz and McTavish was worth the early morning get up for.